The credits at the end of the film tell us that the storyline of this Indian-British Bollywood film was 'inspired by' the Jane Austen novel.  We might have also guessed it from the title.  Gurinder Chadha, the same person who did Bend it Like Beckham (2002), directed this, so I had high expectations.  This screenplay does not contain the same complexity or quality of plot, although it is entertaining and different. 

            As the story begins, Mr. Darsi and his attorney arrive in Armarita, India where the attorney is to meet one of four Indian daughters of a family he knows.  Darsi is immediately smitten with another, the most beautiful of the daughters, Lalita, but she wants nothing to do with the wealthy, arrogant American.  From this point on, the plotline approximately follows Austen's novel although it's updated to include air travel between India, London, England and Hollywood, California and it includes the modern culture of all three countries.

            Different from Austen's novel, or the PBS mini-series Pride & Prejudice (1995), this story was a wedding of both people and their cultures.  The Indian aspect of the story brought us the same full color musical dance and songfest we saw in Monsoon Wedding which was also the story of a Punjabi wedding or Lagaan (2001).  Typical of a Bollywood production, the screen was filled with beautiful Indian people splendid in their dance moves and jubilant in celebration.  I was struck by the sensuality that the men and women brought to the screen with their vivid colors and beautiful flowing garb.  It was reminiscent of the musicals that were pervasive in U.S. films during the depression years and the WWII years, certainly then offering a way for moviegoers to escape.

            The green-eyed beauty, Aishwarya Rai plays Lalita.  She began as a model, was noticed in a Pepsi ad and won the 1994 Miss World title.  She is scheduled to appear in The Mistress of Spices (2005), which is the film adaptation of Chitra Divakaruni's novel (Chitra taught creative writing at Foothill College, Los Altos, California, in 1998).

            Reviewed January 14, 2005 at the International Film Festival.

            MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some sexual references.  (I think this rating overly strict).